Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
I doubt that seperation would ever be successfully voted on if Quebec viewed things from a rational outside of thier province point of view.
they know that any Federal government overseeing a Quebec Seperation would never let Quebec set the conditions of seperation and the rest of Canada would absolutely not allow Quebec to leave with our currency, passports Canada's favorable tade and diplomatic terms and Federal Assets.
However I strongly disagree with giving one region distinct recognition over other regions, it tends to lead to resentment and anger by everyone who is then getting the short straw in terms of recognition.
at some point this whole bloody mess is going to have to be pierced like a needle to an boil. Quebec is shrinking and becoming less relevant in terms of distinctness, they actually drive anyone out unless they want to live a Francophone lifestyle. Their economic model on a provincial level is a failure and they are socially out of touch with the rest of Canada.
If recognition of nation within a nation is as innoculous as recognizing language rights, then whatever. But its not, they want federal money without oversight, and they want a veto on a national level, and they want to make federal policy and that can't happen.
If Quebec gets distinct national status how long before Ontario and Alberta and B.C. all are clammering for the same thing.
We need a strong Prime Minister who plainly states what they can legally expect to get if they vote to seperate and what that future pictures looks like and then requests that they take one more binding referendum.
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Well this is why these issues should be discussed and brought to the forefront. Rerun posts this thread as a way to suggest that the Liberals are morons and this will surely topple them from any former hopes for governance. The reality is that this is a very important issue, and for a lot of the reasons that you've identified.
So here's the catch. Quebec wants more power and less strings attached. They want federal money and no oversight. Hate to break it to you captain, but so does Alberta and every other province or territory. In fact the squabbles between Alberta and the feds are evident even today where they have a similar ideology and agree on a lot of issues. This is why the province is opening an office in Ottawa (the the chagrin of the federal government). There are federal and provincial issues and basically it all comes down to a power struggle on certain points.
As for some of the comments about "how can they ________?" Its pretty simple in a lot of ways. They can use the Canadian dollar as currency for example by just....using the Canadian dollar as currency. There is no real way to stop them, and its a non-factor. That's how Iceland could contemplate this as well. I doubt that an independent Quebec would (with pictures of the Queen and the constant reminders of Canadian greatness in general), but there's no reason it couldn't be done. It's true that they couldn't use our passports and things like that, but we've actually seen this play out peacefully before. Vaclav Havel who was a principal in the "velvet revolution" in the former Czechoslovakia managed to orchestrate a separation that was peaceful and other than the constant beat down the Slovaks endure in various sporting events from the better looking and more talented Czechs, its really not a factor!
(In case it needs to be said, the shot against the Slovaks is a joke...although us Czechs are clearly better looking and more talented!)